


You are not alone in this

by flappergirlsfolly



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, drabblish?, mentions of abuse, mentions of drug use, not narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 05:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2536112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flappergirlsfolly/pseuds/flappergirlsfolly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How the Stark kids' significant others are there for them, and how they are there for their loved ones. </p>
<p>(Title taken from Mumford and Sons 'Timshel')</p>
            </blockquote>





	You are not alone in this

**Author's Note:**

> Ages range high school-kindergarten.   
> Hope you enjoy! Xx

* * *

 

_**and i will tell the night** _

* * *

She has to hold his hand, because otherwise there’ll be no stopping him from saying something he’ll regret- or worse, _doing_ something.

So she holds his hand as his father and stepmother look at him across the table and talk like everything he’s feeling is irrational, and a little bit of her wants to let go because of it.

* * *

It hasn’t worked before and there’s a tiny treacherous part of him that thinks it never will. But he still gets upset when the weight of his legs crumples and he falls down between the handrails. He just rests Bran’s head on his knees and twirls his fingers gently through his hair. He will always hope, even when nothing changes. Jojen thinks that’s the most beautiful thing in the entire universe.

* * *

He stands there. He lets her thrash at his chest, and he doesn’t say anything. She screams and shouts and hits him with both fists, and he lets her. The wrench and rag drop from his hands when her anger finally collapses into tears.

He can’t believe that he- him- is actually angry with the family bastard for absconding to live with his girlfriend, but Arya’s crying and he just can’t help it.

* * *

It’s not that hard, _no biting_ , but he does it anyway. He always gets into trouble, every single time, and every time her father gets angrier and angrier. (A little part of her wonders why her father of all people is the principal of a Primary School, especially when Rickon is so unnaturally quiet at the back of the playground.) She tosses him half of her cookie anyway. It bounces off his head and he glares, but he still eats it.

* * *

He gets so sick of it. Of Jon and Theon, of Arya and Sansa, of Mum and Jon, Dad and Theon, Sansa and Theon. He tries to hard to make it all work, to flawlessly hold up their quaking lives. He’s so sweet, even when he pretends to be the tough semi-bearded warrior guy. She simply kisses him and tries to brush away the pain, even though they both know that neither of them will ever quite manage to do that.

* * *

It’s so painfully awkward. Not that he’s much of a problem with his bum leg- he’s used to it, but he wants it be magically better just so he can climb her drainpipe every night. Instead her father lets him in through the front door, and they avoid each other’s gazes without saying anything. He just lies beside her as she breathes, and holds her when she wakes up screaming, because everyone knows that it’s the only thing that makes her feel even the littlest bit happier.

* * *

_**whisper "lose your sight"** _

* * *

 

It’s not much of an anonymous Domestic Abuse support group when you walk in and see your former BFF and your favourite brother’s live-in best friend holding hands. And then there was Willas, descending into her life like a fallen star, to hold it together. _I love you, I love you, and I’ll always love you_ \- it’s the only real support she can give him when he’s sitting silently in a wheelchair on the hospital lawn after Joff’s goons took away his mobility (temporarily) and ability to have children (ever). It’s not much to repay him with, but it’s a start.

* * *

 

He holds her. No- cuddles? Hugs. Fucking smothers. That’s what he does. He shifts her into his lap, wraps his arms around her and squeezes her as tightly as he possibly can. He offers to kill her parents, burn the purity gown they bought her, melt her chastity ring and tear apart the doctor who had subjected her to that- _examination_. She cries harder. He holds her to make it all go away, to ease the violation that has her hands buried in her lap defensively. (He cries for her after she leaves, when he knows she can’t see.)

* * *

He thinks he might be making it worse, when he bites the boys who call her scale face, and throws them into the sandpit with mud stuffed down their trousers. (Well, he thinks he must have, considering the way she tells him to go take a long walk off a short pier.) But the little bunch of flowers he stuffs in her bag the next day makes her smile and glance around at her classmates curiously. He wonders if she knows it was him. Does it really matter?

* * *

He’s ranting again. Almost shouting about his goddamn father and goddamn stepmother and stupid DICKWAD of a stepbrother. About his boss and the car, the Porsche he’s wanted since he was ten turning up on his doorstep with the tag ‘From Dad’. So she jumps on him. He squawks and protests as she tackles him to ground, but stops when she kisses him. (Not that it was a solution, but for now, it’s enough)

* * *

People call him a freak. A little bit because he’s gay, but mostly because of the taxidermy and marijuana and séances. And quite frankly, there should be too many times Bran can run over those people’s feet with his wheels. (Because his arms get quite sore from the rough terrain and he keeps getting late to class because he’s chasing some guy across the building, but it doesn’t matter because he knows things will be better for Jojen, he _knows_ they will.) Jojen just watches him and smiles. He guesses that means it’s worth it.

* * *

He’s glad it doesn’t bother her. Being the not-so-motherless boy with the lying parents and the wildling chick with the piercings in the house with the broken drainpipe. What bothers her is people knowing that Mance and Dalla won’t stop fighting, that her uncle Tormund thinks she should stick with them rather than running to her boyfriend when crockery starts getting thrown. What bothers Jon is that he can’t be overtly afraid for her because she gets so cross and _He Knows Nothing_. So it’s not enough but it has to be to hold her hands, her body pressing into his beneath the streetlight as they shuffle back and forth in their slow dance. But it sure says a heck of a lot.

* * *

_**but i can't move the mountains for you** _

 


End file.
